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Growing Peppers In Buckets
- Thread starter skettle8
- Start date
Not an expert by any means, I'll be doing buckets for a select few this year. I would suspect the potting soil was the culprit over the water source. I will be making my own mixture this year using several products. Tons of threads on this, use the search. Good luck!
I always use tap and its great. However, tap in Northern NJ is different than in Texas so I can't say how your tap is for the plants. Do you have to use buckets? Ive found that my pods are always bigger, and plants are always bigger when theyre directly in the ground. The soil mix Ive been successful with for several years is potting soil, top soil, and manuer (sp?). Usually I try to use equal parts but I dont measure. Also, be careful when using the manuer bc Ive heard that using to much may kill everything bc of a high Ph level. I havent experienced it but I usually lay out the soil a few days before planting and water it a few times to allow it to mix together. Not sure if it does anything, but in my head it works and my garden always turns out great!!
When Ive done pots/buckets Ive just gotten a big storage tub and made this soil mix then transfered to the bucket.
Hope this has been helpful!!
xo Nicole
When Ive done pots/buckets Ive just gotten a big storage tub and made this soil mix then transfered to the bucket.
Hope this has been helpful!!
xo Nicole
I use a mix of my native soil, compost, per lite, vermiculite, bat guano, kelp, bone meal, and blood meal. Or... roots organics 707 mix with something to add calcium... But I have only been doing this for four years or so.
- Mega
- Mega
I would have to agree with joyners that its probably the soil. I'm still kinda new to this but I used tap(hose) all the time and noticed a difference after changing the soil. Last year was the second year that I grew in buckets and I noticed that a lighter, well draining soil worked much better even though it had less compost in the mix. My first year my soil compacted easier and stayed wet way to long and thus affected the growth (new to mixing soil then). Second year I cut down on the manure and added more perlite and vermiculite to the mix. It was a bit more watering but with the lighter and well drained soil I had gotten larger and more productive plants.
I just use tap water, as I really have no other option. I grow in pots, and my plants are typically very happy campers, which I attribute more to the fertlizer I use and my hauling them into the garage when the weather's nasty, rather than much of anything else. Frankly, I get the least-expensive potting soil I can find - I considered Scott's last year, but something else was less expensive. My bigger question about your buckets is whether you have sufficient drainage. Peppers like to be moist but not wet. If you don't have to water them at least once a week (and more frequently in the summer), then you don't have enough drainage. I used to live in Houston and still have fam there, so I am familiar with your growing conditions. Note also that with as hot as it gets there, sometimes the plants will drop their flowers because it is actually too hot for them. If you have a way to get them some shade in the heat of the day, I'd recommend that you do so.
All my peppers are in drywall buckets. I was also new to mixing soil and really just used straight bagged topsoil last year. They grew, but I'm convinced that with a lighter, better soil I could have done so much better. Here's what I'm trying this year:
2 part topsoil
2 part peat
1 part Vermiculite
1 part Perlite
And I'll be experimenting with Jobe's Tomato and Vegetable fertilizer this year (1/2 cup per 5 gallon bucket). I found a couple of youtube videos about making soil and organic fertilizer that I'll try when I have the space for all that bulk stuff.
2 part topsoil
2 part peat
1 part Vermiculite
1 part Perlite
And I'll be experimenting with Jobe's Tomato and Vegetable fertilizer this year (1/2 cup per 5 gallon bucket). I found a couple of youtube videos about making soil and organic fertilizer that I'll try when I have the space for all that bulk stuff.
I would think the problem of not have peppers consistently would be more of a fertilzer problem not the dirt. did you fertilize them at all if so what did you use?
I HAVE to use pots or buckets, or my raised garden beds, as I don't have soil. I have Caliche, which is common here. Without going into too much detail, Caliche is very similar to cement. If you want to plant a tree, you need dynamite or a jackhammer (that's not as much of an exaggeration as you think!)
I used several orange "Homer" buckets this past year with success. Why? Because they were cheap. I drilled and drilled holes all over the bottom and the bottom sides to ensure good drainage. It seemed to work. I also bought some five-gallon plant bags over the Internet, and they worked very well also. The only concern I have is that plastic doesn't last long in the Arizona sun. But that's my issue.
When my chili plants died due to our cold snap, I discovered that their root systems didn't go down all the way to the bottom of the orange "Homer" buckets. I then discovered that I could buy some five-gallon black plastic planter potters for a good price from some nursery wholesale shops online that are a bit shallower. Besides, orange doesn't make the prettiest back yard.
When I canvassed Tucson's neighborhoods during the election season, I saw numerous five gallon buckets with chili plants growing, so it's very common here.
I used several orange "Homer" buckets this past year with success. Why? Because they were cheap. I drilled and drilled holes all over the bottom and the bottom sides to ensure good drainage. It seemed to work. I also bought some five-gallon plant bags over the Internet, and they worked very well also. The only concern I have is that plastic doesn't last long in the Arizona sun. But that's my issue.
When my chili plants died due to our cold snap, I discovered that their root systems didn't go down all the way to the bottom of the orange "Homer" buckets. I then discovered that I could buy some five-gallon black plastic planter potters for a good price from some nursery wholesale shops online that are a bit shallower. Besides, orange doesn't make the prettiest back yard.
When I canvassed Tucson's neighborhoods during the election season, I saw numerous five gallon buckets with chili plants growing, so it's very common here.
I typically repot as part of my overwintering process, and have found that some varieties are like that - very shallow root systems - while others are almost bursting at the seams. Good idea to note which do what for future purposes.
I can tell ya I grew peppers in undersized pots I used a mix 0f 5 different soils i bought at Lowes or Menards . I fed them every 7-8 days, and used collected rain water when possible, I did water usually twice a day as i would hit them at the base in the early morning and soak them in the evening usually with the hose as we didnt have much rain this year. This was my first year growing and I had good production even with the rookie mistake of undersized pots. check the soil and feed them would be my suggestion
http://thehotpepper....ts/#entry693166
An you can get spray paint to paint the buckets to look like stone
http://thehotpepper....ts/#entry693166
An you can get spray paint to paint the buckets to look like stone
I bought 9 yards of local potting soil last year, I filled several bins with it added water to the top and covered em. I let them cook for 2 months, I then cut the wet cooked soil with the regular soil 50/50.
after that I added Peat and Perlite, I also sprinkle some epsome salt in.
the final mix ratio is,
40% Base mix
40% Peat
20% Perlite/Vermiculite
here are some pics of the process,
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32046-is-it-stinky/page__hl__%2Bis+%2Bit+%2Bstinky%3F
after that I added Peat and Perlite, I also sprinkle some epsome salt in.
the final mix ratio is,
40% Base mix
40% Peat
20% Perlite/Vermiculite
here are some pics of the process,
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32046-is-it-stinky/page__hl__%2Bis+%2Bit+%2Bstinky%3F
For the record a 5 gallon bucket is 1155 cubic inches, which is just under 1 cubic foot (1750 cu inches). So if you're measuring your mix, there's kind of a baseline for your total amounts.
Buckets need to drain well. That also means that the soil will lose nutrients faster. You will need to fertilize bucket plants more often than in-ground plants. Lots of 1/2" holes drilled in bottoms and lower sides of buckets is important. Add sand and vermiculite to your soil mix to aid in drainage. Course sand is best, not the fine play sand. The kind you can get at Lowes for mixing up concrete works great and is cheap (a couple dollars for 50 lbs). I wish the vermiculite was that cheap. Good luck with your grow.
To answer your question about tapwater.... Yes,it could have been the problem. It could have been a few other things also. pH is a very important,but overlooked part of growing IMO. When growing plants in the ground it will not be as apparent but in containers it is going to affect your plants,production,and sanity. pH is exponential,a 6 and a 7 are not just 1 off...the difference is large.With the wrong pH, half the recommended nutrients will cause overfertilization. You will see a lot of folks cramming ferts up the roots of their plants and wondering why they have a 5 inch twig with 4 leaves on it. Then the cal/mag threads start! Most good mixes are pH balanced but it is good practice to test your tapwater.
1/2 inch holes in a bucket would be kind off big. What helps a lot is a half inch layer of gravel at the bottom of the bucket before you add the soil. Helps the holes drain the water much better.
http://containergard...ner-Gardens.htm
The ones I used gravel in last year plugged up had buckets filled with water.
Maybe I used the wrong size gravel. Either way, not doing that again this year.
Guess would be a matter of choice.
Hmm and I have had the opposite experience. The soil cloggs up the holes for me. I use to be into bonsai's and had many of them and the standard procedure was to put mesh and gravel at the bottom to promote fast drainage which the very small pots require to keep the delicate balance requires in bonsai's.
They also dig trenches and fill it with drainage tubing and gravel to allow properties to drain into a sump system so why wouldn't water fill the void from soil into gravel?
They also dig trenches and fill it with drainage tubing and gravel to allow properties to drain into a sump system so why wouldn't water fill the void from soil into gravel?